Three-quarters of new two-room flats go to singles

About 77 per cent of new two-room flats were allocated to singles between 2013 and last year, even though only a third of these flats were set aside for them, said Minister of State for National Development Maliki Osman.

The Government might consider increasing the quota, he added yesterday.

"If the demand from first-timers as well as families is coming down, we will consider the possibility of increasing the quota. But we'll continue to monitor the situation," he said.

Since July 2013, first-timer singles aged 35 and above and earning up to $5,000 a month have been allowed to buy two-room Build-To-Order (BTO) flats in non-mature estates.

A third of the flats are set aside for them, and the rest for first- and second- timer families.

"So even if the quota today stays at 30 per cent, the actual numbers that were taken up or allocated to singles are much higher," Dr Maliki added, responding in Parliament to a question from Ms Lee Bee Wah (Nee Soon GRC).

She had asked if his ministry could consider allocating a higher flat quota for singles.

The HDB ramped up the supply of such flats from 2,600 units in 2013 to about 5,000 units last year.

Of the 16,900 BTO flats that will be launched this year, about 5,000 will be two-room flats.

Since 2013, about 18,300 singles have applied for two-room BTO flats, with about 9,000 able to select a flat.

But application rates for singles have fallen, said Dr Maliki. While there was a high of 58 applicants to one flat in July 2013, this dipped to 13 to one flat last November.

This article was first published on February 13, 2015.
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